Monthly Archives: November 2016

Thanksgiving, Day 2: Amazing Clients!

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When I first started my job at ImageWorks web design firm in VA last year, I was told that I wouldn’t have much contact with my clients.  Typically, clients would have one main contact at the firm, who would provide them with any information they needed about SEO and marketing (my jobs) as well as web design and graphics work.  It sounded reasonable, and while I knew I would miss interacting with my clients, it seemed like the easiest way for them to have a simple, uniform experience with our agency.

As time has passed, I’ve found myself communicating more and more with my marketing clients.  It wasn’t anything we planned, but that’s just how things work now, and it makes me really happy.

First of all, I work with great people.  They’re cheerful and appreciative, and nine times out of ten, any conversations I have with them involve good humor and good productivity.  Most of the time, their phone calls are a pleasant part of my day.

What’s more, I’m generally not the most social person – I’m actually not at all comfortable in large groups or dealing with strangers – but put me in a position at work where I feel capable and confident, and I really do enjoy the chance to talk to the people for whom I’m working.  It helps me feel inspired to do my best work and produce great results for them, when I feel like we’re connected as human beings.  There’s a sense of ownership, and “we’re all in this together” that can be really motivating.

Finally, I’m grateful for my clients because at the end of the day, I know that they’re trusting me to help their businesses succeed.  That’s a huge amount of faith to put in another person, and I appreciate every ounce of it. I remember this ever day, as I hope I live up to the task!

Three Days of Thanksgiving!

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In celebration of Thanksgiving this coming Thursday, I’m going to write a series of gratitude posts starting today.  Please feel free to share what you’re grateful for in the comments, or link me to your own posts about Thanksgiving.  I’d love to see what everyone else has to say on the matter.

Without further delay:  Today, I am thankful for technology, and more specifically, for the Internet.

Call me a nerd if you wish, but just think for a moment about all the wonderful things we can do thanks to the world wide web.  Consider all the information we can access with just a few keystrokes and the click of a button.  Have a question?  You can bet Google has an answer for you!  Need to do your banking?  Get your furnace serviced?  Make travel plans?  Buy or sell your condo?  Buy a gift for a friend?  The Internet is there for you, simplifying all your daily tasks.

More than that, though, the internet brings people together.  We have massive social networks helping old friends to reconnect, communities like Reddit and Livejournal helping people find those who share common interests (no matter how obscure), and thousands of forums for learning and sharing advice, knowledge, and humor.  And on top of that, we have chatting capabilities and video conferencing so that no matter where in the world your loved ones are, you can talk to them face-to-face, all thanks to the internet.  Sure, there are trolls and flame wars are easy to find, but so are friends, new and old.

As I think about Thanksgiving, I think about the friends I’ve made online, the connections that have been strengthened, and the extra time I have to spend with them because I have the capability to do so many things from my smartphone or computer.

I grew up before the internet became such a widely used thing, but as an adult, I’m not sure what I would do without it!

 

 

 

Business Process Improvement – Learning Something New

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One of the things I love about my job in internet marketing is that I am constantly learning something new.  Either I’m watching as tried-and-true tactics change and evolve, or I’m learning about new products or industries from my clients.

Right now, I’m working with (among other things) a software company, a laser tag business, a car wash, an hvac company, and a project management system.  While some of those things are more easily understood than others, I’ve found that the more complex businesses can be equally as interesting.

For example, one of my clients sells process improvement and value stream mapping software.  When I first started working with them, I didn’t know anything at all about their products or who would use them.  Of course, we’d put together a creative brief explaining a lot about the company, but even that was written with a lot of highly technical terms that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

As time has gone on, I’ve had the opportunity to do some writing for them, and as part of that, I’ve come to understand a lot more about what it means to improve business processes.  That isn’t something reserved for giant factories or multi-billion-dollar organizations – just about every company can benefit from breaking down the steps they use to complete various duties and finding a way to do those things more efficiently.  The same with value stream mapping – it’s really just a way to break things down and find a way for companies to work faster, smarter, and better.

What has your job taught you lately?